What a Predicament
by boshrocks
Summary: The morning after a party where some people had too much to drink and others clearly should have had more. merlin/morgana and merlin/arthur if you squint hard enough.


It was the scream which woke them.

Both sat bolt upright in shock. Then Merlin came to the startling realisation that he was not in his own bed.

He then realised he was not alone in said bed. He turned to his bedfellow and both screamed too. Merlin was ashamed at the squeak which had invaded his voice this morning.

A crash and a splash made them look at Gwen, who had discovered them and had dropped the pitcher of water in shock and bolted from the room.

Glancing down, Merlin knew why she was so shocked.

He didn't appear to be wearing any clothes. At least not from the waist up.

A glance at his bedfellow and the blush started. It started on his cheeks, then spread upwards, downwards and sideways. He looked away, trying to hide it but also for politeness's sake.

"What is going on here?" she demanded.

"My lady, you appear to be devoid of clothing." he said, still not looking at her.

He sensed her glance downwards and with a gasp she pulled the bedclothes up to cover herself. Merlin looked round at her.

"Merlin, are you wearing anything?" she asked, sternly but also a little fearfully.

He rummaged around beneath the coverlet. "Yes." he said uncertainly.

"Really?"

"No."

"Oh god."

"Arthur is going to kill me!"

"It's not like I'm married to him." she raised a hand to her face to rub her eyes and Merlin caught sight of the ring.

"But it looks like you're married to someone."

She stared at the ring. She screamed. Then she started breathing very quickly.

"Calm down, m'lady. I'm sure it'll all work out. Somehow. Last night was Arthur's coronation, and we clearly all had too much to drink. What do you remember?"

"Things got a bit out of hand at the banquet."

"Do you remember who you married?"

"Well, since I woke up naked next to a naked you, I'm going to guess that it was you."

"Arthur is going to kill me."

"Do you honestly not remember anything?"

"No, you know me, I can't hold my drink. I gather the coronation party turned into a great big piss-up?"

"Understatement. I just wish I could remember how we got here."

"MERLIN!"

"Uh-oh."

"Arthur sounds mad."

"Don't let him kill me please."

"If this was your idea you deserve to get killed by him."

"Come on, Morgana, you really don't think this was my idea did you?"

"It might have been. I mean, you've been in love with me for forever."

"That's not true. I was when I first came here but things have changed."

"What things?"

The door banged open, revealing a severely ticked off King Arthur and a sheepish looking Gwen.

"MERLIN!"

"Uh, good morning your highness." Beside him Morgana sniggered. He shot her a glare.

"So it is true then. How dare you overstep your rank like this! You are a servant!"

"Not technically. He's not your manservant anymore, remember. He's a higher ranking servant than he used to be. He's on a higher level than Gaius now." Morgana put in. Merlin smiled at her gratefully.

"Still!"

"You know what mead does to him, Arthur. He's not responsible for his actions last night."

"But you are?"

"Probably." she didn't even attempt to be ashamed.

Arthur waved his arms around and tried to speak but was lost for words. Morgana snorted.

"Sort it out yourselves!" He declared and stormed out of the room, dragging Gwen along with him.

Morgana laughed.

"You didn't tell him about the other bit."

"He doesn't need to know that. Not yet anyway."

"So what do we do? Do we deny it ever happened, forget it and move on?"

"I remember saying the vows. I think we got the archbishop to perform the ceremony."

"Well he was there. He was probably the only sober person at that party."

"But that means we can't get out of it. We're bonded now, and it looks very much as though it was consummated so we don't have that excuse. I'm afraid you're stuck with me."

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"You're stuck being married to a servant."

"Court Wizard is technically more than a servant."

"Still. It'll take a lot to get Arthur to forgive me for this."

"We can keep it quiet for a while, but it'll eventually come out. And when it does we'll have to get used to married life."

"That is, if our fearless leader doesn't chop my head off first."

"He won't. I won't let him."

"Alright, for now though, we have to get up and deal with Arthur."

"You first."

"You're just saying that so you can oogle your new husband's bum aren't you?"

"Maybe. Go on Merlin, stop being such a wimp."

Merlin rolled his eyes and got out carefully. "You sound just like Arthur."

"What? When he kicks you out of bed?" she teased.

He blushed.

"Oh." she said.


End file.
